#linuxcnc Logs

Jan 23 2023

12:49 AM travis_farmer[m]: it is quickly becoming more apparent that all of my genius ideas, in practice, are worthless... as perfectly as my Arduino ModBus project works with LCNC, i can't think of a valid project for it to exist. :-(
01:06 AM sensille: travis_farmer[m]: control your spindle?
01:08 AM travis_farmer[m]: my spindle is as controlled as it gets. for some reason the VFD ModBus just would not work with MB2HAL, yet my stupid Arduino project worked perfectly...
01:10 AM travis_farmer[m]: wasn't crazy about how the ModBus control of the VFD worked anyway. speed control was set at 0-100%, vs rpm or even frequency.
01:12 AM travis_farmer[m]: so far, analog control of the spindle is almost rock-steady. the rpm readout over analog isn't great, but it works.
01:14 AM travis_farmer[m]: though, as i think of it... if i don't like the VFD ModBus, i could control the VFD with an Arduino over ModBus, and it would let me really shorten the analog wires between the VFD ad the microcontroller... i may have to shield the Arduino, being so close to the VFD... i don't know, it is a thought
01:15 AM sensille: that's what i meant
01:15 AM travis_farmer[m]: oh, ok
01:16 AM travis_farmer[m]: only had 4 sips of coffee ;-) it took me a bit, but i got there ;-)
01:17 AM sensille: what kind of work do you plan to do with the maschine?
01:19 AM travis_farmer[m]: paying work, i hope ;-) mostly sign carvings and furniture carvings, like a coffee table with a design carved in and filled with colored epoxy, or something like that
01:21 AM sensille: is it easy to find customers?
01:22 AM travis_farmer[m]: not very... i have none yet. i will have to get the machine fully operational so i can make some samples, so people can see what i can do
02:33 AM travis_farmer[m]: i may have figured out why my VFD was not working with MB2HAL. i dove into the manual a bit deeper, and i think the VFD only accepts function codes 3 and 6. so i re-setup my MB2HAL config to "work" with the VFD. just a matter of testing it, once there is enough light outside to work in an unlit shop. worth a try anyway. i will setup the RS485 connections exactly how i did with my Arduino ModBus project, and try from there.
02:38 AM rmu: travis_farmer[m]: also watch out for correct serial settings, some modbus devices communicate with (very unusual IMHO) 8 bits, even parity, 1 stop bit
02:39 AM travis_farmer[m]: yeah, i checked those, the VFD is set for 9600 baud, 8N1
02:41 AM rmu: modbus rtu has crc, so parity doesn't make much sense anyways, but i have seen that "in the wild".
02:44 AM sensille: yeah, reading the manual sometimes helps :P
02:45 AM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
02:46 AM travis_farmer[m]: oh, i read the manual... it just took me playing with the Arduino ModBus project to understand what the info in the manual was trying to tell me ;-)
02:47 AM sensille: hehe, yeah, it's mostly like that. only after you figured something out the hard way you see that it is indeed in the manual/manpage/whatever
02:47 AM sensille: the bane of documentation
02:48 AM travis_farmer[m]: yeah, docs are usually written by those that know, and they usually expect you to just know
02:52 AM travis_farmer[m]: i think i am still going to have to write a comp to translate the values to what the VFD wants, though. like i said, the rpm setting is set 0-100%, rather than 0-24000rpm, and i think the control pin, uses a numeric value, like "1" to run forward, and "5" to stop.
02:52 AM sensille: hal has mult
02:53 AM sensille: mult2
02:55 AM travis_farmer[m]: yeah, i know. but to me it just seems easier to write a single comp for figuring all the controls, than it is to piece together several comps to do the same thing
02:57 AM sensille: i did not find a good way to send some values at shutdown
02:58 AM travis_farmer[m]: hence why i make my own comp. when the machine-on value from LCNC drops, i can have it send the stop command ;-)
03:00 AM sensille: improving mb2hal for everyone would be even better, though
03:01 AM sensille: there is some preparation for value scaling in the code
03:02 AM rmu: travis_farmer[m]: don't rely on modbus only for stop and esp. e-stop
03:02 AM travis_farmer[m]: mb2hal is just the messenger, not all VFDs, or other ModBus devices, will have a standard stop command. so it would be difficult to please all devices, to shut them down when LCNC is turned off, or E-Stopped.
03:04 AM rmu: what i mean is your VFD probably has some kind of "enable" input, use it
03:04 AM sensille: it should still be possible to come up with a flexible configuration
03:05 AM travis_farmer[m]: yeah, i likely will figure out how to do it with hardware signals too, i think my VFD accepts both for stop
03:05 AM sensille: and stop is not the only command i want to send
03:05 AM sensille: also "pass back control to the builtin panel"
03:08 AM * travis_farmer[m] uploaded an image: (24KiB) < https://libera.ems.host/_matrix/media/v3/download/matrix.org/vcLVNgqHtqeOAokTRjBzcIRB/Screenshot%202023-01-23%20at%2004-07-11%20Fuling%20DZB200_DZB300%20Inverter%20User%20Manual.pdf.png >
03:08 AM travis_farmer[m]: i can set F3.03 to 3
03:11 AM travis_farmer[m]: not seeing a specific "Enable" input. just when using 3-wire control, is there an enable (forward, reverse, enable)
03:12 AM travis_farmer[m]: and it will not work in parallel with ModBus control
03:17 AM travis_farmer[m]: i can set a input as a "Failure Reset"... i think that will be my hardware stop command for e-stop/abort. i can set it to a N/C relay, so if LCNC drops out, the Mesa card default value will shut off the relay, thus causing a STOP command
03:17 AM * travis_farmer[m] uploaded an image: (30KiB) < https://libera.ems.host/_matrix/media/v3/download/matrix.org/jPbcngBddQNkNhlEsekOBJQc/Screenshot%202023-01-23%20at%2004-13-52%20Fuling%20DZB200_DZB300%20Inverter%20User%20Manual.pdf.png >
03:53 AM rmu: travis_farmer[m]: failure reset may be some kind of enable that reactivates the vfd after some protection / fault tripped and not a "e-stop" input
03:55 AM travis_farmer[m]: i don't know, says it works the same as the stop button on the keyboard... i will have to try it and see what it does
03:55 AM travis_farmer[m]: as long as the VFD doesn't restart the spindle when the input clears, it should work
04:08 AM XXCoder: lcnc forum loaded very slowly
04:27 AM travis_farmer[m]: Hmm, the local school district is closed (snow day)... also means the lazy mail carrier won't deliver (1 -2 inches is far too deep for him to try and wade through)
04:31 AM Tom_L: morning
04:51 AM TurBoss: mornin
05:41 AM SpiderCrab[m] is now known as hn9861[m]
05:46 AM JT-Cave: morning
06:38 AM travis_farmer[m]: Off Topic: i ran out of one of my anti-crazy meds about a week ago, and have been working with my doc to get it re-filled. if i seem erratic or emotional, that is why.
06:48 AM Tom_L: 22F
07:02 AM * travis_farmer[m] heads out to snowblow the driveway...
07:09 AM JT-Cave: 33°F
07:47 AM travis_farmer[m]: there, no excuse for the mailman not to deliver, this storm. probably i won't get any mail, just because there isn't any today... ;-)
07:47 AM * JT-Cave goes to start his chicken day
09:33 AM * roycroft wonders why the human race, collectively, are so bat shit crazy at times, when there's no need to be that way
09:34 AM * roycroft doesn't want to start his day making his brain hurt, so tries to stop wondering that
09:36 AM * travis_farmer[m] wonders why mb2hal is still not working...
09:59 AM travis_farmer[m]: well, for a start, the activity LEDs on my USB to RS485 device are not blinking... so mb2hal is not using the right serial port or something...
10:01 AM roguish[m]: it may show the comm errors
10:03 AM travis_farmer[m]: no comm errors
10:04 AM roguish[m]: is the comm adapter thingy working correctly?
10:05 AM travis_farmer[m]: was the other day when i used it with my Arduino ModBus project
10:05 AM roguish[m]: go back to that and be sure to get the correct comm settings..... write 'em down.
10:07 AM travis_farmer[m]: i haven't changed the comm settings, i recycled the same. the project is non-available at current. searching online for a modbus master program for linux...
10:14 AM travis_farmer[m]: using a program called modpoll, i polled the /dev/USB0, and the activity leds blinked, but no comm reply from the VFD @ id 2 (as set in the VFD itself)
10:20 AM travis_farmer[m]: it would appear that this VFD just won't ModBus ;-)
10:22 AM roguish[m]: what does the manual say? can firmware be updated or anything
10:23 AM * travis_farmer[m] posted a file: (9392KiB) < https://libera.ems.host/_matrix/media/v3/download/matrix.org/nJGKANuWtTjPbIiByNOPeGUH/Fuling%20DZB200_DZB300%20Inverter%20User%20Manual.pdf >
10:23 AM travis_farmer[m]: it doesn't say that it can
10:24 AM roguish[m]: contact the manufacturer ???
10:25 AM travis_farmer[m]: perhaps...
10:25 AM roguish[m]: nothing to loose.....
10:27 AM roguish[m]: looks very similar to my Delta VFD.
10:27 AM roguish[m]: there's gotta be software for it.
10:29 AM roguish[m]: pdf page 45 at bottom.... ModBus
10:30 AM travis_farmer[m]: thats what i used to setup mb2hal
10:31 AM roguish[m]: i've got nothing else......
10:32 AM travis_farmer[m]: yeah, i need lunch anyway
10:35 AM snakedGT is now known as snaked
11:16 AM travis_farmer[m]: in the manual, it has the address values in HEX, but the mb2hal.ini field FIRST_ELEMENT wants the value in DEC, correct?
11:39 AM sensille: yes
11:39 AM djdelorie: is there some way to have linuxcnc run some code after a job finishes? Or when "stop" is pressed?
11:40 AM djdelorie: I want to reset the machine back to inch/abs when jobs leave it in mm/rel
11:41 AM travis_farmer[m]: i downloaded some windows modbus tools... after i stop being dizzey, i will bring my laptop out and try them...
11:41 AM sensille: travis_farmer[m]: i tested with pymodbus.console
11:43 AM djdelorie: travis_farmer[m]: I use python's minimalmodbus module for debugging modbus, if you know python
11:43 AM travis_farmer[m]: i will look into that as well
11:44 AM djdelorie: the biggest gotcha is that some (most? all?) modbus implementations forget to offset the register numbers by one
11:45 AM travis_farmer[m]: not sure i know what you mean
11:45 AM djdelorie: in our case, if the manual said the register number was 1004, you had to pass 1003 to the API
11:46 AM djdelorie: You see a lot of "reg-1" in the source code for stuff
11:46 AM travis_farmer[m]: Hmmm...
11:47 AM djdelorie: At the lowest modbus level, a bit encoding of zero means "register 1"
11:48 AM * travis_farmer[m] uploaded an image: (53KiB) < https://libera.ems.host/_matrix/media/v3/download/matrix.org/NxfSUVMzQWNRJzqTLRtWKnfI/Screenshot%202023-01-23%20at%2012-47-12%20DZB200%26300BUSERMANUAL20070629(1321)%E6%9B%B2%E7%BA%BF%E6%9C%80%E6%96%B0%20-%20DZB300-USERMANUAL.pdf.png >
11:48 AM travis_farmer[m]: that is an example from the manual
11:48 AM travis_farmer[m]: i have 4096 as the FIRST_ELEMENT
11:49 AM travis_farmer[m]: should it be 4095?
11:49 AM djdelorie: if you were using minimalmodbus.py you'd write: modbus.read_register(4096-1)
11:49 AM sensille: at least with pymodbus.console and mb2hal i could just use the addresses as written in the manual
11:49 AM djdelorie: sensille: that's the way EVERYONE should have done it, yes :-)
11:50 AM djdelorie: worse, the GS10 manual gives registers in hex like 100H but the decimal equivalent for the *same register* is 49407
11:51 AM djdelorie: I'm just saying, if you're getting weird results, it may be an off-by-one bug in the register number. YMMV
11:51 AM travis_farmer[m]: now i am confused...
11:52 AM travis_farmer[m]: ok
11:52 AM djdelorie: travis_farmer[m]: your code should use the documented register numbers throughout
11:52 AM travis_farmer[m]: so the bug may be in the VFD?
11:52 AM djdelorie: travis_farmer[m]: just be aware, the modbus API you're using might forget to subtract one before sending, and you have to do it for it
11:52 AM djdelorie: travis_farmer[m]: no, it's the modbus interface software
11:53 AM travis_farmer[m]: ok
11:53 AM djdelorie: the vfd is correct (well, except for that decimal thing, we never found out what that was used for)
11:54 AM sensille: travis_farmer[m]: you can just read a block of 4 or 8 registers and see if the content matches your expectation. should be easy to spot an off-by-one
11:55 AM travis_farmer[m]: yup
11:57 AM travis_farmer[m]: this is my current mb2hal.ini https://github.com/travis-farmer/linuxcnc/blob/master/configs/my_LinuxCNC_router/mb2hal.ini the VFD settings start at TRANSACTION_04
11:58 AM travis_farmer[m]: so like on TX 08, it has 8 elements, but none of them have anything other than 0
11:58 AM travis_farmer[m]: (when i was last out in the shop)
12:01 PM travis_farmer[m]: i am currently trying to reconstruct my Arduino ModBus project, so i can test it in parallel, and see if the issue is the VFD, or the software, as the Arduino project worked before.
12:09 PM roycroft: folks, i still have this drag graving project to work on
12:09 PM roycroft: i'm looking at this for the tooling:
12:09 PM roycroft: https://tormach.com/tts-diamond-engraver-kit-32447.html
12:09 PM roycroft: any opinions on it?
12:09 PM roycroft: i'm going to use the tts when i do the cnc conversion on my mill anyway
12:10 PM roycroft: i'm thinking that a 120 degree included angle diamond would give me crisper lines than the 90 degree one that's supplied, but having both would not be bad
12:11 PM roycroft: the last time i did drag graving was about 15 years ago, and i don't remember what tooling i used
12:11 PM roycroft: i'm just going to be engraving index marks on a thumb screw, so nothing fancy
12:13 PM roycroft: the thumb screw is brass, btw
12:16 PM djdelorie: travis_farmer[m]: when we were starting out with modbus, we tried to read the temperature register (chip register, but when it's off, it's essentially ambient)
12:16 PM djdelorie: that's an easy value to verify
12:16 PM djdelorie: assuming you connect at all, that is ;-)
12:17 PM travis_farmer[m]: still waiting for the dizziness to go away before i head out to the shop
12:21 PM djdelorie: FYI I've had good luck with this adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081MB6PN2/
12:24 PM * travis_farmer[m] heads out to shop with his Arduino project (leaving windows laptop behind as it is a blizzard, and i don't need to have to replace it)
01:01 PM travis_farmer[m]: some progress! i can enable the VFD via ModBus, though still can't set rpm...
01:28 PM travis_farmer[m]: not making any headway on setting the rpm. it states in the manual, address 2000H (8192), and i have tried address-1 as well
01:53 PM travis_farmer[m]: well, the Arduino ModBus project works (follows machine on status), the VFD follows both forward and reverse modbus commands, so i know it is reading the information. it just will not set the rpm percentage. everything i try, i run into a wall, where the speed is not set. perhaps i will go back in the house, as my helpers have vacated... ;-)
01:54 PM ZincBoy[CAON][m]: Did you enable speed control in the drive parameters?
01:54 PM travis_farmer[m]: yes i did
01:58 PM * travis_farmer[m] heads inside, as it is starting to get dark...
02:04 PM travis_farmer[m]: wow it gets dark quick when it is storming... really need to install lights out in the shop :-)
02:05 PM XXCoder: nahh its fine risk walk out in ship in dark lol
02:06 PM XXCoder: had shop power off few times while I was working
02:06 PM travis_farmer[m]: it just seems strange that the VFD would respond to the commands, but not to the speed setting
02:06 PM XXCoder: thankfully every station has flashlight
02:06 PM travis_farmer[m]: i need one of those in my shop
02:07 PM travis_farmer[m]: i did set VERSION=1.1 in mb2hal.ini, i had it in wrong spot before. i think that made the difference
02:09 PM travis_farmer[m]: and i got it to be in reverse mode, as well as forward... it just would not turn
02:12 PM travis_farmer[m]: even the internet (google) is unhelpful, as it is apparently a rare VFD, that several random people have
02:18 PM djdelorie: travis_farmer[m]: are you sending it the RPM value, or the Hz value?
02:19 PM travis_farmer[m]: it requires percent, 0 - 100, per the manual
02:19 PM djdelorie: is that scaled by a digit or two? I.e. is the parameter 0..100 or 0..1000
02:19 PM djdelorie: just thinking of stupid things ;-)
02:20 PM travis_farmer[m]: when i send 12000 to my scaling comp, the mb2hal pin reads 50
02:21 PM travis_farmer[m]: i could try scaling
02:21 PM djdelorie: or see if the arduino code scaled it
02:22 PM travis_farmer[m]: it doesn't run via the arduino, that is a sepperate MB ID
02:25 PM * travis_farmer[m] uploaded an image: (3KiB) < https://libera.ems.host/_matrix/media/v3/download/matrix.org/HgKWkZtQTKzAmfxvnSyFxjdh/Screenshot%202023-01-23%20at%2015-24-06%20%E5%8D%B0%E5%88%B71000%E6%9C%AC%20BD600%20English%20Manual%20-%20BD600-Manual.pdf.png >
02:25 PM travis_farmer[m]: found this in another of their manuals
02:25 PM travis_farmer[m]: makes me wonder
02:26 PM travis_farmer[m]: 50 or 100 may not even be enough to start the VFD... when that says 32767 is full scale
02:27 PM travis_farmer[m]: 1% would be 327
02:29 PM travis_farmer[m]: made some changes to my code and configs... excited to try this new development, tomorrow :-)
02:31 PM travis_farmer[m]: wait...
02:31 PM * travis_farmer[m] uploaded an image: (4KiB) < https://libera.ems.host/_matrix/media/v3/download/matrix.org/uJcPrAOpKcLDowfPokaghEwW/Screenshot%202023-01-23%20at%2015-30-19%20DZB200%26300BUSERMANUAL20070629(1321)%E6%9B%B2%E7%BA%BF%E6%9C%80%E6%96%B0%20-%20DZB300-USERMANUAL.pdf.png >
02:31 PM travis_farmer[m]: it was in front of me the whole time...
02:32 PM XXCoder: doh lol
02:32 PM XXCoder: RTFM I guess
02:32 PM travis_farmer[m]: lol, yup. as in read it CLOSER! :-)
02:32 PM djdelorie: the wonderful thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from
02:32 PM XXCoder: dj lol indeed
02:33 PM XXCoder: https://xkcd.com/927/
02:33 PM travis_farmer[m]: so those values would be about 100 = 1%, not much, LOL.
02:34 PM travis_farmer[m]: LOL, XX
02:42 PM * travis_farmer[m] uploaded an image: (22KiB) < https://libera.ems.host/_matrix/media/v3/download/matrix.org/YXyeycFTCsmayNsyjHMIwABP/Screenshot%202023-01-23%20at%2015-41-10%20DZB200%26300BUSERMANUAL20070629(1321)%E6%9B%B2%E7%BA%BF%E6%9C%80%E6%96%B0%20-%20DZB300-USERMANUAL.pdf.png >
02:42 PM travis_farmer[m]: think i need to set this too? ;-)
02:42 PM djdelorie: if it's like mine, yes. Set it to 3
02:42 PM djdelorie: oh wait
02:42 PM djdelorie: maybe?
02:43 PM djdelorie: Calling it "pid setpoint sources" is confusing
02:43 PM travis_farmer[m]: i can try it, as long as i make a note of the previous value
02:44 PM djdelorie: best vfd management I've seen was Clough42's, where he printed most of the manual and had tabs for every page that had a parameter he needed, with written notes about old/new values
02:45 PM XXCoder: banana netsplit
02:45 PM -!- #linuxcnc mode set to +v by ChanServ
02:53 PM travis_farmer[m]: you mean i am supposed to be remembering the previous values? ;-)
02:53 PM travis_farmer[m]: guessing i leave that one alone, but worth a try, if the other attempt fails
02:53 PM XXCoder: honestly its always good to keep a journal
03:17 PM roycroft: back in The Olden Days(tm), when i had dot matrix printers, i used to print hardcopies of my machine changelogs every time i made a change, and kept the printouts in a 3 ring binder
03:18 PM roycroft: i stopped doing that when i started using laser printers, but i don't think the events were connected - iirc i started doing automated offsite backups right about the time i got my first laser printer
03:18 PM roycroft: and that is more likely the reason i stopped with the hardcopy changelogs
03:26 PM travis_farmer[m]: had to snowblow again...
03:46 PM roycroft: i had no weather-related activites to attend to, but i did wish for spring again
03:46 PM roycroft: although i am happy to annnounce that i saw my first robins of the year this weekend!
03:50 PM XXCoder: lately oxtoolco does nothing but meatloafs
03:50 PM XXCoder: no machining etc
03:50 PM XXCoder: im startung to wonder if I should drop channel
03:51 PM XXCoder: checked history. geez updates or discussions for around a year so far
03:55 PM roycroft: he's another one who has been moving
03:55 PM roycroft: i think his new shop is not in proper order next
03:56 PM roycroft: and tom's pretty anal about that stuff
03:56 PM roycroft: i got bored with his channel a long time ago, and only check in on what he's doing occasionally these days
03:57 PM travis_farmer[m]: how many people check on my channel to see all the new videos i have not put out? ;-)
03:58 PM roycroft: i don't even know about the channel you probably don't even really have :)
03:58 PM XXCoder: last I looked you had moved around too much with camera. such videos is unwatchable to me
03:59 PM XXCoder: I dont need any videos that give me more pain so yeah
03:59 PM travis_farmer[m]: https://www.youtube.com/@travisfarmer216
03:59 PM XXCoder: some channels like precision machining i fast forward though handcam parts
03:59 PM travis_farmer[m]: there roycroft :P
03:59 PM travis_farmer[m]: i have one
04:00 PM travis_farmer[m]: yeah, i am very new at camera work :-(
04:00 PM XXCoder: nah its just my brain
04:00 PM XXCoder: im always dizzy now, but if I watch such videos I get another type of dizzyness on top of it
04:01 PM travis_farmer[m]: really i know nothing about camera work. nobody tells me what i should do, so i just fumble allong
04:01 PM XXCoder: type I always got if i watch such videos for many years now
04:03 PM CaptHindsight[m]: djdelorie: do they ever just randomly change the offset value just for fun?
04:05 PM CaptHindsight[m]: offset by just -1 won't fool everyone, it might just be a bit confusing at first until you see that they are all just off by 1
04:05 PM CaptHindsight[m]: was the spec written by someone that started counting at 1 vs 0?
04:08 PM CaptHindsight[m]: offset register addresses are usually found when an IP block is reused and has a randomly chosen base address for its new home
08:01 PM jesseg: Hey guys... What's the name of that thing that's like a digital caliper with the end stuck in a block of granite? I never owned one, and I'm drawing a total blank.
08:02 PM roycroft: a height gage?
08:02 PM XXCoder: sounds like height gage yeah
08:02 PM jesseg: yeah thanks!!!
08:02 PM jesseg: I saw them, not sure I ever knew what they were called.
08:02 PM roycroft: now that you know what it's called, you definitely need one
08:02 PM unterhaus: There is a village near here named "retort"
08:02 PM XXCoder: theres many versions of that. btw if you get 2 rods version, never ever lift em by rods
08:02 PM roycroft: so you can address it occasionally, and never forget
08:03 PM roycroft: "good morning, height gage! how are you today?"
08:03 PM roycroft: do that a few times and it will be deeply ingrained in your mind
08:03 PM jesseg: hehe thanks guys :D
08:03 PM roycroft: and you can mutter its name incessantly while they take you away to the funny farm
08:04 PM * roycroft always lifts his by the base, and he doesn't have one that is the 2 rods style
08:05 PM XXCoder: saw one worker lift one by rods. made me cringe
08:05 PM XXCoder: that height gage had to be sent off to be recalbrated
08:05 PM XXCoder: I lift by base too, and use fingers on top to stabilize it since its quite heavy
08:06 PM jesseg: I'm already lifting mine by the base in my mind and I don't even one one yet!
08:07 PM jesseg: *own, not one.
08:07 PM XXCoder: :)
08:21 PM roycroft: you can get one from grizzly.com for not too much money that will be fine for most things
08:22 PM roycroft: if you're machining to thousandths, and not tenths, the grizzly ones will work fine
08:22 PM roycroft: if you have money to burn and like shiny things, then get a starrett or mitutoyo
08:22 PM roycroft: or if you're ding high precision work
08:22 PM roycroft: doing
08:25 PM bjorkintosh: then? what do you get?
08:28 PM roycroft: you get the shiny starrett or mitutoyo
08:29 PM bjorkintosh: I thought you were going to say something about pneumatic something or other
08:29 PM XXCoder: is that like pokemon shiny?
08:29 PM XXCoder: ;)
08:30 PM roycroft: well a height gage isn't really high precision anyway
08:30 PM roycroft: it just helps you lay things out fairly accurately
08:31 PM roycroft: but the shiny expensive ones will be more accurate then than the less expensive ones, generally speaking
08:49 PM Tom_L: bjorkintosh, then you get a cmm
08:51 PM Tom_L: heh, digital caliper stuck in granite...
08:53 PM Tom_L: and if you get a height gage you need a height master to calibrate it
08:53 PM Tom_L: https://www.mitutoyo.com/products/small-tool-instruments-and-data-management/instruments-and-reference-gages/height-master/
08:53 PM XXCoder: oh interesting
08:53 PM XXCoder: never saw that before
08:54 PM XXCoder: Request Demo | Support Request | Register Product
08:55 PM XXCoder: what about buying? lol
08:55 PM Tom_L: $$$$
08:55 PM XXCoder: i bet
08:55 PM Tom_L: if you have to ask you can't afford it
08:56 PM Tom_L: i don't really know..
08:56 PM Tom_L: https://www.amazon.com/Mitutoyo-518-351A-21-LH-600D-Performance-Measurement/dp/B00CIWQM9Q/ref=sr_1_17?c=ts&keywords=Height+Gauges&qid=1674528932&refinements=p_89%3AMitutoyo&s=industrial&sr=1-17&ts_id=401587011
08:57 PM Tom_L: precision
08:57 PM XXCoder: honestly easily thousand dollars I bet
08:57 PM Tom_L: resolution to 0.000001”
08:58 PM XXCoder: not surpised. one I saw at shop was not quite as precise
08:58 PM XXCoder: old version. only .00001"
08:59 PM Tom_L: still cheaper than this http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/cnc/cincinnati/CCM.jpg
08:59 PM XXCoder: yep
09:00 PM XXCoder: the rock I bet is riciouly pricy
09:00 PM XXCoder: I mean, its 2 foot
09:00 PM Tom_L: that's just for lunch
09:00 PM Tom_L: hehe not
10:09 PM roycroft: i found a diamond drag graver for about 1/3 the cost of the tormach one
10:10 PM roycroft: i decided to get that, because i don't know how well that kind of tooling is going to work for me
10:10 PM XXCoder: hope it works well
10:10 PM roycroft: i hope so too
10:10 PM XXCoder: hows your cutter macine so far?
10:10 PM roycroft: i got it plugged in and it powers up :)
10:11 PM roycroft: i'm going to use a linux laptop to run inkscape to control it, and the os on the laptop is getting old
10:11 PM roycroft: i'm having some issues upgrading it
10:11 PM roycroft: it's running 10.3
10:11 PM roycroft: and some of the repositories are gone
10:11 PM roycroft: i need to update to 11.6
10:12 PM XXCoder: ubuntu or?
10:12 PM roycroft: debian
10:12 PM XXCoder: hmm so 11 is current stable major version
10:12 PM roycroft: yes
10:13 PM roycroft: i'm almost done with my elections work for the day
10:14 PM roycroft: so maybe i'll be able to get some work done on the laptop tonight
10:20 PM roycroft: my past experiences with doing major debian upgrades is that i really need to upgrade to the last version of the one i'm currently running before making the jump to the next major version
10:20 PM XXCoder: yep thats what linux mint enforces
10:22 PM roycroft: yes
10:22 PM roycroft: and when i do an apt-update, i get errors that several of the packages are not available
10:22 PM roycroft: i may have to do a fresh os install, which i'm trying to avoid doing
10:28 PM roycroft: the laptop dual boots windows and debian, and it was a pain in the butt to get that working
10:29 PM XXCoder: its not too bad
10:29 PM XXCoder: 20.1 was fresh install for me, and it took hardly more time since I backed up programs installed, ppas etc
10:29 PM XXCoder: also my /home is on spinning rust disk which is seperate from ssd for os
10:30 PM roycroft: yeah, i don't store any files on the laptop
10:30 PM roycroft: i run a cloud server at home and all my machines sync to that for shared files
10:30 PM XXCoder: I would suggest backup list of PPA and your usual programs
10:30 PM XXCoder: thats it basically
10:30 PM roycroft: i'm not concerned about data
10:31 PM XXCoder: its not data but os install stuff
10:31 PM roycroft: i'm concerned that the windows install might get messed up
10:31 PM XXCoder: so you wont forget what programs you had installed
10:31 PM XXCoder: ah dunno about that. havent used windows for years
10:33 PM XXCoder: cam seem to hate linux in general
10:33 PM roycroft: and it's a dell, which has some weird, proprietary drivers for windows
10:33 PM XXCoder: so I might end up jhaving some old pc with windows just for cam
10:33 PM roycroft: so if it does get nuked, it will be a pain in the butt to reinstall windows
10:33 PM XXCoder: backyp entire windows disk? if I recall right theres special partition for drivers etc on decc
10:33 PM XXCoder: dell
10:33 PM roycroft: i have notes on how i did the debian install
10:41 PM XXCoder: cool :)